Fiscal 2023 DIF Account

JetBlue Direct Flight From Boston To Orlando

 


Seven per day!!!

Seven per day!!!

Think 1 per day would do very well out of Worcester







Comments

Anonymous said…
I wish someone from MassPort would read this blog…
ORH Fan said…
I'd honestly be happy if they could just get the Delta flight switched to earlier in the day and/or switched to Atlanta instead of LaGuardia. Same for American if they could switch to Charlotte or maybe DC it would open up so many more potential destinations.

I'm sure that someone from Massport reads this blog. It would be helpful if they would be willing to give some more info on what is being done to adjust flight schedules and attract additional service here not to mention why they don't really market this airport at all.
carl I. said…
The cold hard fact is that no one can dictate what, where and how often airlines can fly out of an airport. The 1978 airline deregulation act took care of that, and when the Civil Aeronautics Board was disolved, it was entirely left to the airlines to decide where they fly. Airports can incentivize airlines to come to their airports based on limits set by the FAA, and Massport probably exhausted their resources just to get the 3 to go to Worcester. If Massport even tried to deny an airline that wanted something in Boston unless they do what they want them to do in Worcester, someone would probably do time in Leavenworth. And if you think airlines are setting themselves up for failure, then you have no business sense. Airlines set schedules based on a number of factors to minimize cost and maximise revenue based on the resources they have. They also want to boast their network with the number of destinations they offer to promote customer loyalty. Worcester is not a big money maker. So, they are taking advantage of available resources (a plane sitting in NYC that has a crew, and wouldnt be more profitable flying to another destination) and use it go fly to Worcester to tell their frequent fliers they fly to more destinations than their competitors. If they didnt want to fly out of Worcester, they would not have come back after the pandemic. Stop wasting your breath on Massport. Go after the decision makers - THE AIRLINES!
Anonymous said…
Went up to ORH today because they’ve been doing some work on the parking gates, seems like September 30th will indeed be the last day parking is free but no sticker changes to the prices. Seems like it’ll remain first 24 hours free, $7 per day, $42 per week. No work being done inside unfortunately but if we get a new airline to come to ORH, one of three things would need to happen. Either JetBlue gives up one of their ramps (highly unlikely because they need 2), the airport upgrades it so gates 5&6 can have gate ramps like 1-4 have, or the new airline just uses steps which isn’t the best for the people who are handicapped. If the airport ever needed to get more gates and gate ramps, a lot of work would need to be done, but there is definitely room to expand. Not with the current size of the airport building, but they could build next to the airport and add additional gate space, security, and extra check in areas for airlines since those are limited too.

One thing though that makes me wonder about the expanding of more airlines, is the parking. Worcester does seem like it has plenty of parking when you drive by, but we have 2 airlines that have less than 50% loads and one that has 50% loads (JFK JetBlue) so if all of those theoretically were at 70%+ that would probably fill the lot up itself. I feel like if we want ORH to expand, we need more parking spaces somewhere. There could always be a partnership where people could you Worcester State’s satellite lot and have a shuttle to the airport, build a parking garage at the airport (lot of people would pay extra $ to have their cars in a covered area in the winter from the snow), or find a way where you can level off an area of land at the airport to add more spots. So it’ll be interesting to see what’s going on in the future, I know they did just cut down a bunch of trees near the airport in a plot of land but it’s unknown what’s happening there so only time will tell but we’ll see.
Rusty said…
^The airport has had a master plan (for those of you that know what a Master Plan is) that includes numerous things. One of them being a parking garage directly in front of the terminal (this is the reason the terminal & parking lot look the way the do with that big concrete wall, theirs supposed to be a parking garage there eventually that is exactly where that parking lot is.). Other things included is lengthening 15/33 (the smaller runway) a full parallel taxiway for 11/29, a 5th jetbridge (gate 5 ramp wise already exists, look at an Ariel view, the old 5/6 gates done exist anymore, this is a different gate 5, they just never removed the signs), among plenty other things. I’m sure one day most of these things will happen, who knows when. Master plans usually are a 15-30 year outlook so no telling when or what’s priority.
Anonymous said…
The American flight had to divert today in Boston. Tried to land in Worcester using the CAT III system but they still couldn’t land and had to divert. First time a diversion for JetBlue/American/Delta in months but still I thought that thing was built so these issues didn’t happen. They’re going to try and bring the plane back from Boston to Worcester so it’ll be interesting to see how that works as well as what the other flights will do.
Rusty said…
Just because an A/C is Cat III & Cat IIIb capable doesn’t mean that particular aircraft has it. Or that the crew is certified for that approach. On the E175 in particular, the aircraft is able to do Cat IIIb landings, but the necessary equipment to facilitate this (autoland,autobrake, etc) is an optional package. Not every 175 will have that package, depends on if the airline decides to splurge for the extra cost to install it. It’s not base equipment included per say. Plus the crew itself has to be certified for a Cat 3 approach. Are Republic Airways crews certified for it? No idea. Maybe, maybe not. It’s a regional airline not a mainline. Another possibility is the Cat 3 in the plane could’ve been INOP. Even to this day, a Cat IIIb approach is extremely difficult. There’s no less than 20 different parameters on the aircraft that have to all line up & agree perfectly. If they don’t, it’s aborted. So while the airport might be fully Cat IIIb capable, the landing can still be not possible. Same goes for Logan, Bradley. With any airline.
Anonymous said…
^that day was bad for JetBlue. Not sure if it was a newer pilot or not but was listening to ATC and watching the radar, the JFK mid day flight took 90 minutes to do a typically 30 minute flight. And had to do 2 touch and go’s before fully being able to land a third time. I believe it circled 6 times to the west of the airport before attempting to land. Everything has been good since and I did see some construction vehicles on the outside of the smaller runway. Still unsure when the second half of runway 29/11 (the larger and mostly used runway) will begin its rehabilitation. If the A320 for JetBlue doesn’t get extended past January 3rd, they could begin small work on it then since the E190 can land on a 5,000 feet runway which the smaller runway is
Anonymous said…
Im confused, if he had to do 2 touch and go's, why didnt he just stay on the ground when he touched the first time?
Anonymous said…
Tried to land, stayed on the ground briefly, but couldn’t get down all the way so had to take back off. Had to do it twice before third time was the charm. Wasn’t that windy on Monday but I’m not sure why it took 3 tries. It was very weird because american tried to land and gave up and diverted to Boston but the FLL flight and delta flight landed no problem
Anonymous said…
Went back up to Worcester Airport today and quite a bit has happened within the past couple of days, here’s some notes.
- Parking is no longer free starting October 1st, however the rates will stay the same like they were pre covid, $7 per day, $42 per week, first 24 hours free.
- The gates have been upgraded so you can pay wirelessly at the gate with your card. Meaning Apple Pay and other useful tools can be used to pay with parking now. This doesn’t sound like a huge deal but now since people like myself can just use our debit cards or other payment wirelessly at the gate is a huge benefit especially with all the card skimmers that have been out there lately. I use to work at a gas station in Tatnuck and a lot of people would use Apple Pay or wireless transactions on their phones or cards.
- There has been work being done on the upper lot and at least 2 brand new EV charging stations are being built. Unsure the exact total but this is a huge plus for people with electric cars as ORH does not have any EV charging stations and the nearest one is at the Worcester state satellite lot and the campus itself. Each station will most likely be able to charge 2 cars each and they’re located next to the handicap spots that are parallel to the exit onto airport drive. Another benefit for EV owners is they’re the closest non handicap spots there as well.
- Republic Airways/American Eagle (operator for American flight) today showed that their plane can use the 5,000ft runway at the airport to take off and doesn’t need the longer 7,001 ft one. This is great news to hear because once rehabilitation work begins on the 2nd half of runway 29/11, American should not be impacted by it. JetBlue and Delta did not attempt to land or takeoff from that runway today but we know JetBlue’s E190s are capable of doing that.
- There was little to no delays at the airport today for commercial service despite the very high winds. It was very gusty at the airport at the time of delta’s and JetBlue’s Florida flight but both got off the ground no problem and no delay to them.
ORH Fan said…
That's all good but I won't be using ORH anytime soon. Not until Delta and American change their schedules and or switch from LaGuardia/JFK to different hubs with better flight connection options. I have to book flights to Florida (West Palm & Fort Myers) and Arizona for next spring in the next few weeks and I just can't make it work with what is offered at ORH on Delta or American so Providence here I come.
Sully said…
Ground School 101. Its called a missed approach or informally a go-around. If the plane is in a low visability approach, and the pilot cannot see the runway at decision time (before touch down), he has to abort the landing. decision time is based on the airport's ILS, plane equipment and crew qualification. If the pilot is qualified for CAT 2, cant see the runway at 200 ft above he ground, he cant land. CAT 3 is 50 ft, not 0 feet. A touch and go is a training maneuver. An efficient way for student pilots to practice landings and takeoffs without having to taxi back. For a commercial pilot to touch down, then hit the gas, and take off again, there was some other serious issue going on, especially to do it on a runway thats only 7000 ft.

Yeesh, seems like the only one who knows what he's talking about (besides me) is Rusty. IN RUSTY WE TRUST! Wonder who he REALLY is. Seems to know a lot about the inner workings of the airport.

Ps: ORH Fan needs to change his handle, because he/she certainly isnt one.
Anonymous said…
“Who knows what they’re talking about beside me” Sully I’ve never seen you around here. They called it the go around but up there the plane did touch the runway twice then take off because they couldn’t land. Mis pronounced oh well. ORH fan is on this blog all the time and he/she is a fan of the airport and that person said they would definitely use it more if they had better/more flights out of ORH but for now has to go too Providence for it.
Sully said…
Tell you what, go to flightaware.com. type in jetblue 776. Scroll down to past flights. Tap on the 19th of September. The map shows him circling. Scroll down a little more and you'll see its altitude and speed. 2 dips show it shooting the approach but not touching the ground. I know, your going to say it shows not touching down at the end too. Thats because there's a lag in flightaware and the flight terminated its flight plan before flightaware updated itself.

Instead of "anonymous", why not give yourself a pseudonym like I often do to differentiate yourself from the 3 other anonymous that follow this blog so I know which one I'm dealing with. I dont know if it was you who said you were watching radar in an earlier comment, but news flash - Worcester doesnt have radar.

Listen, im just trying to set records straight whenever I see innaccuracies in posts and comments, before they are accepted as fact.

Thinking about changing my pseudonym from Sully to Censorious.
ORH Fan said…
Just wanted to respond to the poster who says I should change my "handle":

I've used Worcester Airport frequently in the past when DirectAir was here. I had family members from Western Mass that used DirectAir to go to Florida at least 20 times per year. I remember when I was younger growing up in the Metro West area that we would use Worcester Airport for family vacations to Florida and to visit family more than we used Logan Airport. It's a great airport and I would very much like to use it as now live less than 3 miles away from it but with it's current offerings it just doesn't work for me. Let me give some examples:

I was looking at booking a flight on Delta to West Palm Beach from ORH December 8th - 13th. Guess what? I can't get to West Palm Beach without overnighting at LaGuardia. The Delta flight is too late in the day which severely limits the available connection options at LaGuardia. Even if there was a connection option to West Palm Beach I wouldn't get there until 11pm or later. Not interested.

March 11th, 2023 - March 18th, 2023 trying to book a flight from ORH to Fort Myers. Total travel time is almost 19 hours, 2 connections, and oh yeah, I'd have to overnight in Washington DC. Delta doesn't fly out of ORH on Saturdays, so I tried March 12th - 19th on Delta out of ORH to Fort Myers and got a message telling me there were no flight options available.

80% or more of my air travel is on Delta as I get some preferred benefits using them so I'm willing to go to Providence to take advantage of that. We also use American from time to time and rarely use JetBlue as I had a couple of rough trips with them and I'm not at the point where I would want to use them again.

Another poster had mentioned that it's not Massport that is the issue with the scheduling, and that it was the airlines. I'm not buying it that the crappy schedule and lack of flight options is all because of the airlines. With the 30% loads that some of these flights have there is no way that these airlines would willingly continue service. These 3 airlines are all battling for market share at Logan. If they really wanted to make service at ORH work they'd try out a different schedule and/or fly to a different hub. Why we need so many flights to NYC is beyond me. Massport shares in on some of the blame here as well. They barely advertise this airport at all. Tweets and Facebook don't count in my opinion. How many people do you know that are on Twitter? Including myself, I know ZERO. They wasted a great opportunity to market the airport when they were offering free parking. I had previously posted a story about my neighbors flying to Fort Lauderdale a while back. I asked them if they were flying out of ORH and they told me they had no idea that was even possible. Something isn't working up there if people that live less than 3 miles from the airport aren't aware of the service there.

ORH could thrive if there was a better schedule and/or more flights to vacation destinations. Delta to Atlanta would be an instant hit as would American to Charlotte. Those hubs will get you to so many vacation destinations. It worked with DirectAir. Those flights were always full or close to it when I flew on them. Look at New Haven Airport. They went from no service to 14 destinations in about 6 months. And I read recently that they are talking about building a new terminal there. That airport was pretty much dead and now it is thriving because of the flight options they have. Has there ever been a marketing study done at ORH for new service, etc. Seems like we are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on runways, new landing systems, etc. when we don't even have the service to justify that amount of spending.

If and/or when we get better flight options and a better schedule at ORH I will be among the first to book a ticket but until then there is just no incentive for me to utilize the airport.
ORH Fan said…
Sorry, forgot to mention that the March 11th, 2023 - March 18th, 2023 flight I was trying to book was on American Airlines:

"March 11th, 2023 - March 18th, 2023 trying to book a flight from ORH to Fort Myers. Total travel time is almost 19 hours, 2 connections, and oh yeah, I'd have to overnight in Washington DC. Delta doesn't fly out of ORH on Saturdays, so I tried March 12th - 19th on Delta out of ORH to Fort Myers and got a message telling me there were no flight options available."
Anonymous said…
ORH fan, I totally agree. Every time I use google.com/flights, every single time I look for American flights, it’s always overnight layovers it 2 stops (sometimes 3). Trying to go from West Palm Beach back to Worcester in January. Would have to stop in Charlotte and JFK before making it home. American is just like southwest where most of their flights are to their hubs only. Southwest has flights to Orlando, Chicago, Baltimore, Denver, why? Those are 4 major hubs for southwest. American’s is Washington, Charlotte, Miami. JFK is a hub but not as big as those 3 destinations. We use to have a flight to Charlotte and it used to be pretty good and flights from Boston to DC always do really good so why wouldn’t Worcester benefit from it? When my family went to Orlando last year on American, they went from Boston to DC then DC to Orlando. Both flights completely sold out and the flight attendants said that the Boston to DC flight sells out nearly every day. Delta’s times are horrible, a second flight would be beneficial in the morning, however I would also like to see a flight to Atlanta to connect to the east coast destinations as well as locations in the south, or a flight to Minneapolis to connect to west coast destinations which no flights from ORH can offer unless you have a long layover at JFK.

If American changed their flight to DC, it would be extremely beneficial. I wouldn’t want Philly back because there’s too many stops. Family flew up back when Philly was the stop to ORH and they flew out of Louisiana. They had to go from New Orleans to Miami, Miami to Charlotte, Charlotte to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Worcester. It’s just not beneficial for American to fly out of JFK when there’s better airports for them to fly out of.
Anonymous said…
I agree 100% with everything the last two posts have said regarding Delta and American schedules out of ORH. However, JetBlue with their flights to JFK, offers many connecting destination options without over extended layover times. Not to the extend of Delta or American networks, but JetBlue fills a few wholes that Delta and American are leaving behind at ORH. Personally, I try to mostly fly JetBlue, so ORH works perfectly for me.
Delta twice to Atlanta, and American Twice to Charlotte would grow this airport significantly along with JetBlue.
The REAL ORH fan said…
So, a real ORHFan, would have said, " I was checking flights to West Palm and Ft Myers and because I only fly Delta, there were no good flights for me. but jetBlue. WOW! I can leave at 6am and get to West Palm by 12:30 and Ft Myers by 1pm! Returning? Leave Ft Myers at 630am and be home by lunch. Leave West Palm at 10am and get to Scruffy Murphy's for an early happy hour. And I wont be adding 3 hours of driving, traffic and pYing big bucks to park at PVD or BOS!"

"Maybe I also need to find a new circle of friends if none of them are on social media".

Personally, id be embarrased to even admit that. Has anyone seen the amount of advertising on twitter and facebook? There are 3 billion facebook users, 1.5 billion instagram users and over 300 million twitter users. The days of advertising in newspapers and diner placemats are long gone. Radio for that matter too. Amazon, Apple, google play are the way to go.

This consistent diatribe from ORHfan is getting old, sounding like a broken record (fo our younger readers, those are those old vinyl disks that played music when a needle was put in a groove while spinning on a turntable).

ORFfan either needs to change his/her tune, or stop trolling this blog with the same old story. After all, the definition of insanity is repeating the same thing, expecting a different result.
ORH Fan "The Original" said…
Obviously the amount of advertising being done on Facebook and Twitter isn't enough, especially when people who live 3 miles from the airport aren't even aware of the service there.

And I was pretty clear that I had some bad experiences with JetBlue and I'm not at the point where I am ready to use them again yet.

My guess is that "Real ORH Fan" is some Massport social media hack sitting back collecting a paycheck for doing the bare minimum of work trying to justify his/her job.
The REAL ORH fan said…
Ehhhhhh, wrong. If I was a Massport social media hack, I wouldnt be wasting my time on this blog. So, let me get this right, friends that live in the 80's and airport neighbors (which you refer to countless times) who dont take the time to leave their house and look up in the sky? Sad social circle you got there. Besides even if you educated them about airlines, they wouldnt fly out of Worcester because they'll have been poisoned with your vitriole that the service sucks, and the schedules are even worse! Even this season, Red Sox FANS still speak kindly of their boys. You Sir are not a fan. You're poison.
ORH Fan "The Original" said…
You're right. ORH is a bustling airport full of activity. It's completely ignorant of anyone not to notice all the planes flying into and out of ORH. With our 5 daily flights you can probably look to the sky at any given moment and see all that flight activity lighting up the skies. I guess I'm just too lazy to notice.
Rusty said…
ORH Fan’s unwillingness to use JetBlue is his own downfall to not being able to utilize KORH airport that he lives 3 miles from. Several options for flights to West Palm Beach on the dates specified for UNDER $120 each way & with 1 stop. Same goes for Fort Myers on the dates specified. 1 stop to KRSW & will have you there by noontime. Not bad in my opinion. Sure bad experience can sour one’s taste in an airline but every airline has bad experiences. I’ve personally had unpleasant experiences on Delta/JetBlue/American/Southwest & Spirit yet I will continue to book on all if the price & times work out. Years and years in the aviation industry have taught me that the airlines not out to get you contrary to Popular belief. Just because you had a bad experience 2 years ago doesn’t mean your experience today can’t be flawless. I’d recommend he switch his flights to JB out of Worcester for both trips, and save quite a bit of money in the process. There’s an equally high chance he can end up having a bad experience on Delta as he can JetBlue.
The REAL ORH fan said…
Congratulations, you're reinforcing my point that you are no fan. When I raise my points, you deflect them away by saying whats wrong with the airport. Change your handle pal, because you aren't one.

Bill Murray was right when it comes to arguing with people. Great quote. Google it. But you'll have to write it down to share it with your friends though.

In Rusty we trust!
Anonymous said…
It’s true that ORH desperately needs to create awareness of its existence. It’s astounding how many people are unaware that you can fly right from Worcester.

It’s true that the social media and SEO strategies are the “most bang for the buck” marketing strategies today, but it’s also true that this is not working to raise awareness of the existence of ORH. Continuing to Dooley use the strategy that works to sell burgers but not to sell aka Raj means that some other strategy needs to be used. Billboards still work. Even if they are your grandgpfather’s marketing company’s’s strategy.

It’s true that the Delta and AA schedules ar, let’s say, sub-optinalmal. But it’s also true that the JetBlue schedule is really good. I use it frequently. I hesitate to connect during winter storm season, so that’s an issue.
Anonymous said…
I’m not sure if it’s an error or not but it seems like JetBlue is temporarily storing some aircraft outside Boston for a couple of days. Providence is going to be having 2 A320s go from Boston to there and Worcester is having an E190 go from Boston to here so unsure if it’s a scheduling error or not or if it’s because of gate space at Logan since they have a lot more aircraft there (Orlando, Tampa are closed till Friday I believe, FLL doesn’t have a lot of flights as well) but a little odd that it’s happening. It would be cool if it was an announcement but that’s highly doubtful
Anonymous said…
Billboards YES!!!! and not just saying "flyworcester". People dont know "who" flies Worcester. They need to the reputable airlines that are flying out of there, AA, DL, JB. Otherwise people will think its still that podunk airport that (In)Direct Air used to fly there. Hope massport reads this.
Anonymous said…
Why don't you share this feedback with Massport or Andy Davis?

Mail https://www.massport.com/massport/about-massport/contact/

Email adavis@massport.com